1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outboard engine detachably clamped to the transom of a boat to propel the boat.
2. Description of the Related Art
An outboard engine has a cowling defining an engine room or space and provided with a tilt handle that is used for tilting a power unit of the outboard engine on a tilt shaft. Generally, the tilt handle is formed so that the fingers of a hand gripping the tilt handle extend through an opening formed in the cowling into the engine room. This opening is used as an air inlet opening.
An outboard engine disclosed in JP-U No. Sho 59-75398 has a cowling provided with a tilt handle and an air inlet opening. In this prior art outboard engine, either the tilt handle or an air inlet duct is formed integrally with the cowling and the other of the tilt handle or the air inlet duct is fastened to the cowling with screws. Thus either the tilt handle or the air inlet duct, is formed separately from the cowling and must be fastened to the cowling with screws. Therefore, the manufacture of the outboard engine needs many man-hours for making its component parts and assembling the same, which increases the manufacturing cost of the outboard engine.
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem and it is there for an object of the present invention, to provide an outboard engine including a cowling integrally provided with a tilt handle and an air inlet structure, which is not require many man-hours for making separate component parts and assembling the same, and which is capable of being manufactured at a low manufacturing cost.
According to a one aspect of the present invention, an outboard engine comprises: a power unit including a body structure, an engine disposed on an upper portion of the body structure, a propeller shaft supported for rotation on a lower portion of the body structure so as to be driven by the engine, and a cowling detachably joined to the body structure so as to cover the engine from above and to define a part of an engine room; a tilt bracket connected to the body structure of the power unit; a stern bracket to be clamped to a boat; and a tilt shaft pivotally connecting the tilt bracket to the stern bracket; wherein the cowling is provided integrally with a tilt handle to be gripped by hand when tilting the power unit, and an air inlet structure.
Formation of the tilt handle and the air inlet structure integrally with the cowling reduces man-hours for making the component parts and assembling the same, and thus also reduces the manufacturing cost.
Preferably, the cowling of the outboard engine according to the present invention has the shape of an inverted bowl having a substantially horizontal top wall and a side wall, an outer opening of the air inlet structure is formed in an upper rear portion of the side wall, a wall is extended substantially horizontally from an upper brim of the opening into a space defined by the cowling to form a horizontal handgrip, and the tilt handle includes a rear end portion of the substantially horizontal top wall, an upper rear end portion of the side wall, extending over the outer opening, and the horizontal handgrip. The tilt handle thus formed has a sufficiently high rigidity.
Preferably, the air inlet structure includes a horizontal tube having walls substantially horizontally extending from a lower brim and opposite side brims of the outer opening formed in the side wall of the cowling into the engine room defined by the cowling, and the horizontal handgrip that serves as an upper wall of the horizontal tube. An inner end portion of the lower wall of horizontal tube is bent upward in a vertical wall having an upper edge on a level lower than that of the horizontal handgrip to define an inner opening of the air inlet structure together with the horizontal handgrip.
Air flows through the outer opening formed in the rear portion of the cowling through the horizontal tube into the engine room. Since the inner end portion of the lower wall of the horizontal tube is bent upward to form the vertical wall, water that enters the horizontal tube together with air is stopped by the vertical wall so that the water can be-separated from the air to some extent.
Preferably, a vertical tube is extended substantially vertically downward from the inner end of the horizontal tube, the air inlet structure includes the horizontal tube and the vertical tube, the upper surface of the engine is covered with a covering member having a bottom wall and a side wall and defining a cavity opening upward, and the lower end of the vertical tube opens into the cavity defined by the covering member.
Even if water which has entered the horizontal tube through the outer opening formed in the cowl flows beyond the vertical wall into the vertical tube, the water flows through the lower open end of the vertical tube into the cavity of the covering member and does not spread in the engine room.
Preferably, the covering member is provided in its bottom wall with drain holes to drain water collected in the cavity of the covering member outside the engine room.
Preferably, the covering member serves also as a belt cover for covering a timing belt, and the drain holes are formed in portions of the covering member near the tilt shaft and drain pipes extending outside from the engine room are connected to the drain holes. The use of the covering member also as a belt cover reduces the number of component parts, and the water collected in the covering member can be surely drained outside the engine room when the outboard engine is in either a tilted-up state or a steering state because the drain holes are formed at positions facing toward the tilt shaft.